=head1 NAME Known advocacy issues =head1 Description This document keeps track of issues brought up on the L mailing-list. It serves as a repository of things people volunteered to do, good ideas missing a volunteer, and overall strategies towards world domination. If you want to become a part of the effort, make sure to join the list! =head1 Marketing =head2 New Users =head3 Newbies How can we make it even easier and smoother for newbies to introduce themselves with mod_perl ? =head4 Quick Start Guide It was suggested that we have a better quick start guide for new users with stub handlers, stub apache configs, etc. Maybe have a "run in place" installation for people to try mod_perl. =head3 Sysadmins =head3 ISPs and Hosting providers Ideas and tasks to increase the overall availability of mod_perl at ISPs and hosting providers =head4 mod_perl web host provider HOWTO It is difficult to find mod_perl friendly hosting providers. Except full hosted server or User Mode Linux which still means they have to maintain an entire server. Should we maybe have a "How to be a mod_perl web host provider?" HOWTO? =head2 Articles Ideas for possible articles and existing articles awaiting publication =over =item * Protocol Handlers Demonstrate the ability to write protocol handlers in mp2 by creating a server that speaks something other than HTTP. The only trouble is, I'm having a hard time coming up with a scenario where I would really advise using a different protocol... =item * A better DBD::Proxy Build a better DBD::Proxy by making it use XML-RPC or SOAP (or teach mp2 to speak PlRPC with a protocol handler!) and talk to an Apache::DBI-enabled server. This should be much faster than the current system which doesn't use persistent connections, and would allow all the standard apache logging and access control stuff to be used. =item * Post-processing PHP Use an mp2 filter to do something that would have been impossible before, like efficiently post-processing a PHP script (which also demonstrates that PHP has no access to the apache API). =item * Filter to apply XSL transform Use an mp2 filter to apply an XSL transform to some XML content. =item * Filter to automate Cache-Control Use an mp2 filter to automate some of the cache control suggestions from Michael Radwin's OSCON talk: L =item * Cookie-less sessions Use an mp2 filter to implement cookie-less sessions by rewriting URLs and adding hidden fields to forms. =item * Version-controlled websites Write a handler that fetches content from CVS or Subversion, with the branch to use being set by a cookie or URL param or virtualhost name. This would be for content people working on version-controlled websites to use. =back =head3 Perrin Harkins Has an article about a client's conversion to mod_perl, thinking about submitting to Linux Journal and/or Dr. Dobbs. =head3 Randal Schwartz Volunteered to interview TicketMaster employees for his column. Has written articles mentioning mod_perl: L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L =head3 Frank Wiles Wrote an article on mod_perl 2.0 for SysAdmin Magazine. L =head2 Publications =head3 perl.apache.org =over =item * News on perl.apache.org Maintain a constantly changing and up to date "What's new" section on the front page of the perl.apache.org site. Design in a way that is as automatic as possible, and allow a wide group of mod_perl people to contribute snippets of news. Important to make sure that expired news vanish and do not go stale. B: perrin B: http://www.mail-archive.com/advocacy@perl.apache.org/msg00053.html =item * mod_perl Digest The last mod_perl digest was published on 2003/10/20 by James Smith. Consider reviving it and/or tying it to the news portion of the site =back =head3 Linux Journal =head3 Linux Magazine Randal has a monthly column there. =head3 Perl Journal Randal has a monthly column there. =head3 Dr. Dobbs =head3 SysAdmin Frank Wiles knows some of the folks there. Randall has a bi-monthly column there. =head3 Possible Opportunities A few non technical publications were suggested as good possible targets for mod_perl advocacy. In no particular order : =over =item * Economist =item * CIO =item * New York Times =back =head2 Publicity =head3 Supported Applications There are tons of modules and applications built on top of mod_perl. It is important to track down the biggest, most used application's compatibility and support under mod_perl 2.0 series. =over =item * Apache::DBI Supported, possibly replaced by DBI::Pool =item * Apache::Template =item * Bricolage =item * Mason =item * Blosxom (L) David Wheeler is helping in making sure version 3.0 is mod_perl 2.0 ready =back =head3 Numbers Need more numbers to show people in the press releases such as number of sites, book sales, etc. =head3 slashdot.org Why not coordinate and make efforts to have frequent mod_perl stories cross-posted on slashdot ? How come mod_perl doesn't have it's own slashdot category icon yet ? =head3 freshmeat.net Is there even a mod_perl project categorized on freshmeat ? Is it kept in sync with releases ? =head3 Google ad words One suggestion was to advertise through google ad words. =head3 X-Powered-By B In many cases, servers are hidden behind proxies and don't reveal full server-tokens thru the Server: header. PHP has been using the X-Powered-By header for a long time. Isn't it about time for mod_perl to self-publicize in the same way ? B: gozer =head1 Useful Contacts and Resources =head2 The Apache Software Foundation What kind of help can we get out of them ? We need somebody to be the point person for interactions with them. =head2 The Perl Foundation What kind of help can we get out of them ? We need somebody to be the point person for interactions with them. Jeff Bisbee talked to Gavin Estey (Perl Foundation PR Chair) and the latter agreed to help. =head1 Fundraising =head1 Success Stories This is a list of success stories that should be worth chasing after. We need to get the successful users of mod_perl to speak up. =head2 Weta FX Getting a success story from Weta (Lord of the Rings) B: Milton Ngan, Emilton (at) wetafx.co.ukE B: gozer =head2 Overture They have migrate from Java to mod_perl. Great potential success story along with what they gained from switching to mod_perl. A considerable amount of time and effort must have been spent evaluating possible alternatives. =head1 Maintainers The maintainer is the person you should contact with updates, corrections and patches. =over =item * Philippe M. Chiasson Egozer (at) apache.orgE =back =head1 Authors =over =item * Philippe M. Chiasson Egozer (at) apache.orgE =back =cut